Wilma Jean Selby

Wilma Selby, age 84, was born on April 19, 1939 to James and Laura Seagraves in Pleasant Hill, TN and passed away on March 26, 2024 in Crossville, TN.

She is survived by her brother Dennis (Diane) Seagraves and a host of nieces and nephews.

Wilma was preceded in death by her parents James Dallas and Laura Mae (Page) Seagraves; husbands O’Dell Hayes and Charles Selby; and siblings Herschel Seagraves, Marshall Seagraves, Arnold Seagraves, Geneva Brady, Ruth Coffelt, and Lula Rice.

Services will be held on Saturday, March 30, 2024 at Crossville Memorial Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 12-2pm, with the service to follow at 2pm, Bro. Bubba Ashburn officiating. She will be laid to rest in Smiths Chapel Cemetery.

Donald Duran Taylor

Donald “Don” Taylor, age 87, was born on June 5, 1936 to the late Donald Haskett and Elma Mae (Morrow) Taylor in Rector, Arkansas and passed away on March 26, 2024 in Cookeville, TN.

A Graveside service will be held on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Green Acres Memory Gardens at 10:00am.

James Fredrick Williams

James Williams, age 85, was born on April 5, 1938 to James and Thelma Williams in Highland Park, MI and passed away on March 25, 2024 in Crossville, TN.

He is survived by his wife Dorothy Williams.

James was preceded in death by his parents James Arthur and Thelma May (Vogan) Williams.

Services will be held on Friday, March 29, 2024 at Crossville Memorial Funeral Home and Crematory. Visitation will be held from 12-2pm, with the service to follow at 2pm, Pastor David Mahan officiating. He will be laid to rest in Green Acres Memory Gardens immediately following the service.

Richard Ray Denton

Richard Denton, age 70, of Crossville, TN passed away from complications of end stage heart failure on March 24, 2024.

He was preceded in death by his father Buford Denton and his beloved wife Angela Denton.

He is survived by his mother Virginia Heilman; daughter Marissa Denton (David); son Lucas Denton (Amanda); brother Roger Denton (Sherry); and grandchildren Ella, Ava, Liam, Mason, and Camryn.

Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at Crossville Memorial Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 12-2pm, with the service to follow at 2pm, Pastor Craig Ward officiating. He will be laid to rest in Pomona Cemetery immediately following the service.

Susan Noel Brewer

Noel Brewer, age 40, was born on December 28, 1983 to Randy and Renita Qualls in Crossville, TN and she passed away on March 20, 2024 in Crossville.

Noel was very creative and loved to put that creativity to use. She loved to paint, draw, and even wrote poems. She also loved everything about nature and the outdoors.

She is survived by her husband Christopher Brewer and their dog Rip; parents Randy and Renita (Lack) Qualls; siblings Syreeta Henry, Kayla Henry, Brittany Henry, Robin Qualls, and Brandon Qualls; her very special Aunt Gigi (Regina (Don) Lewis); very special nephew Blaise Stokes; Michelle Walker; great nephew Daxten Stokes; mother-in-law Laurie Lockett; and a host of other nieces and nephews.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, March 23, 2024 at Crossville Memorial Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 2-4pm, with the service to follow at 4pm, Mike Garrett officiating.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Crossville Memorial to go towards her funeral expenses.

Wendell Leroy “Lee” Beaty

Lee Beaty, age 76, passed away on March 19, 2024 in Crossville TN. 

He was born on July 6, 1947, in Cookeville, TN to the late Doug and Ruby Amonette Beaty. He spent most of his childhood in Pickett County, TN.  Lee retired after 26 years of service in the United States Air Force, working many of those years as an air traffic controller and as a curriculum developer and instructor at the Senior NCO Academy.  After his Air Force career, he worked at the National Training Center of ServPro as an instructor for 16 years before retirement. He enjoyed traveling, especially in the western states, and riding trails in his side-by-side. 

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sisters Minnie Irene Teague and Deanna Clark, and his brother, Marlin Beaty.

He is survived by his wife, Ethel Teal Beaty, his son, Neal Beaty (Debbie), his daughter, Dana Redwine (Chris), his sister, Rosemary Needler, and his brother Lloyd Beaty (Sharon), and many nieces and nephews.

The family will meet for a private memorial service on Saturday, March 23, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at Crossville Memorial Funeral Home. 

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society or FOCCAS (Focus on Cumberland County Animal Safety) at foccas-tn.org.

Glen Thomas Rogers Jr

Glen Rogers, age 61, was born on November 7, 1962 to Glen and Lois Rogers and passed away on February 21, 2024 in Crossville, TN.

Glen is survived by his companion Janie Blanton; sister Scarlette Brown; children Chard Rogers, Glen Rogers III, Belinda Rogers, and Bobby Lee Rogers; step father Kenneth Brown; 7 grandchildren; stepbrothers Mikey Brown and Eddie Brown; stepson Mark Taylor; and a host of nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents Glen Thomas and Lois (Brown) Rogers.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2024 at Mayland Church of the Nazarene at 1:00pm, Carl Hubbard officiating. His remains will be laid to rest in Mayland Cemetery following the service.

Nola Faye (Matthews) Hawn

Nola Hawn, age 83, was born on November 2, 1940 to Nasby and Leeanna Matthews in Little Crab, TN and passed away on February 24, 2024 at her home in Nashville, TN.

Nola loved yardsaling. Over the years, she collected over 300 cookie jars. She also enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren.

She is survived by her children Rita (Don) Hawn-Delvin, Michael Hawn, and Mark (Stacy) Hawn; grandchildren Joey, Tiffany, Zackary, Ryan, Michael Jr, Amanda, Jerry, Leamon, Paula, Brittany, Lee, Steven, A.J., Austin, Taylor, T.J., and Shelby; 40 great grandchildren; and siblings Mae Flora, Carol Potter, and Stanley Matthews.

Nola was preceded in death by her parents Nasby and Leeanna (Wright) Matthews; husband Leamon Lloyd Hawn; son Ricky Hawn; 4 great grandchildren; and siblings Elmer Matthews, Dean Matthews, Minnis Wright, Mildred Crabtree, and Grace Matthews.

Services will be held on Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at Crossville Memorial Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 12-2pm, with the service to follow at 2pm, Wayne Matthews officiating. She will be laid to rest in Rinnie Cemetery immediately following the service.

Gary Lynn Wakefield

Gary Wakefield, age 71, was born on May 6, 1952 to Willie and Zella Wakefield in Oceanside, CA and passed away on February 19, 2024 in Crossville, TN.

Gary’s biggest passion was being involved with Missions with the church.

He is survived by his children Matthew Wakefield, Rebecca Hall, Jennifer Sisco, Brad Wakefield, and Brandon Wakefield; grandchildren Natalie Sisco, Drew Sisco, Levi Sisco, Zayleigh Swafford, Aubrey Wakefield, and Christopher Wakefield; brother Roger (Linda) Wakefield; and aunt Alma Jean Wilson.

Gary was preceded in death by his parents Willie Arnold Wakefield and Zella Belle (Turner) Wakefield.

Services will be held on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at Oak Hill Baptist Church. Visitation will be from 12-2pm, with the service to follow at 2pm, Pastor Jim Mersereau officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Crossville Memorial Funeral Home to help cover funeral expenses.

Ray E Bush

Born August 20, 1930 Died February 8 2024

Ray Bush was born on August 20, 1930 in Pontiac, Michigan, fifteen days before his future wife, Betty Nisbett.  He grew up in Pontiac and then Waterford, Michigan and graduated from Pontiac High School (later Pontiac Central) in 1948.  Afterward, he served in the US Army during the Korean War where he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

Upon returning from service, he married Betty on July 26, 1952.  That marriage lasted for over 65 years.  They had three daughters and one son.  Diane (the late Benjamin Kratz), Lawrence (Alice), Kimberly (Garry Moses), and Kathleen (Scott Saffron).  Ray has a total of twenty grandchildren, and 28 great-grandchildren (so far).

As an avid ballplayer, Ray got a try-out with the New York Yankees when he was in his late teens.  Any pro baseball ambitions were stunted by his enlistment in the Army.  For several decades after his service, he played softball—first playing fast-pitch, and later playing a form of slow-pitch called blooper ball in Waterford.  Other sports he took an interest in were table tennis, badminton, bowling, and he and Betty played golf.  For a few years, Ray took up long-distance running, and finished all 26.2 miles of the Detroit International Marathon in 1983.

After the service, he enrolled at General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) in Flint, Michigan and became an engineer for the Pontiac Motor Division of GM.  He worked there for 35 years, and during that time, garnered a patent for himself and GM.  He earned one dollar for that accomplishment.  However, an investment he made at work in a Michigan lottery ticket earned him $10,000 in 1980.

Ray and Betty traveled.  In fact, they visited five of the seven continents in the world.  His offspring fondly remember camping road trips throughout the United States and Canada.  They flew to Hawaii for a week and their trip to Alaska was legendary (and the first one after he retired).  Other excursions include cruises on the Danube River and through the Panama Canal; visiting New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand.  During a trip to Spain, they crossed the straits and visited Morocco. But mainly, they took road trips around the United States and eventually visited all fifty of them.  

     Ray retired from GM in 1985.  Shortly thereafter, he and Betty moved to Fairfield Glade, Tennessee where they lived in a condominium unit for a short time.  Ray designed a large three-bedroom house with an attached apartment for the two of them to live and entertain.  That house became the go-to place for their children’s and friend’s vacations.  Most of the time, they were visited by one family at a time.  For their collective 80th birthdays they were surprised by a visit by all four children and their families (twenty-two family members total).  It went from Dad-house to mad-house in short order for a few days.   

     Betty and Ray took courses through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and became master gardeners.  Among their accomplishments, Ray taught children at Crab Orchard Elementary School about gardening.  Betty wrote the “Gardening Almanac for the Plateau” book, copyright 2005, since updated and offered by the Cumberland County Master Gardeners.  She is remembered at the Plateau Discovery Garden in Crossville by a dogwood tree planted in her memory.  Ray also was instrumental in creating a Memorial Garden at their church, Fairfield Glade United Methodist Church.  The two of them always had plenty of flowers around their homes in the Glade and Ray raised vegetables in a communal garden near Dorchester Golf Course.  Eventually, the grounds around Good Samaritan were groomed by Ray until he could no longer care for them.

     Ray and Betty golfed—a lot.  Betty stopped when she was in her 70s, and Ray stopped golfing when he was 80 years old.  He complained that the pain from playing was not worth the exercise and fellowship that came with the game.  When Betty broke her hip, they decided to live in the newly opened Good Samaritan Senior Living Complex in Fairfield Glade in a two-bedroom apartment.  Soon after Betty died in 2017, Ray moved into assisted living at Good Samaritans where he could get better care.  As his health deteriorated, he was moved to skilled care in 2023 where he eventually died February 8, 2024.      As with most of us, there is some legacy to our lives.  His engineering skills went into Pontiac Catalinas from the 1950s to its last year of production in 1981.  Many of those cars are now collectibles because of how they were built.  The grounds at Good Samaritan are maintained by others, but their layout is still as Ray planned them from the beginning.  And of course, the offspring, now numbering in the dozens, continue to live as they were influenced by their forebears, Ray and Betty Bush.

     Ray is survived by his four children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  Also, three sisters, Pat Hooker, Nancy Finn, and Boots Sutton, all in Florida.  He was preceded in death by his wife, Betty; parents Ray and Elizabeth Bush, brother, Jack; in-laws, Stuart and Helen Nisbett; great-grandson, Patrick Moses, and two of his best friends Bill Svenkesen of MI and Jerry Rood of Fairfield Glade TN.

    Ray enjoyed novelty things like peanut butter and onion sandwiches, silly rhyming songs, crazy ties, and/or colorful socks.  In his memory we encourage you to wear a crazy tie and/or colorful socks on May 3rd.

    A Celebration of Life will be held Friday, May 3, 10am at the Fairfield Glade United Methodist Church, 231 Westchester Dr, Fairfield Glade, TN 38558, Pastor Lanita Monroe officiating.  This will be followed with military honors, burial, and visiting.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Fairfield Glade United Methodist Church Memorial Garden Fund (at the above address) or to Cumberland County Master Gardeners, c/o Alan Baker, 524 Tabor Loop, Crossville, TN  38571.